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The lawyer also said Fritzl had complained about the conditions in the jail where he is being held in St Poelten, the capital of Lower Austria province, and was worried other prisoners would attack him.

Fritzl said other prisoners had called him “the worst sort of scum that needed to be dealt with”.

He is being constantly monitored by officials in case he tries to take his own life.

But Guenther Moerwald, governor of the St. Poelten prison, said: "Psychologists and psychiatrists have examined the suspect. At the moment, there are no suicidal tendencies.”

Police said Fritzl used to bring food to his captives in the cellar at night in a wheelbarrow.

He never shopped in his home town of Amstetten and instead drove to other towns to buy nappies, clothes and food.

Psychologist Dr Lesley Parman-Kerr said Fritzl said he probably had a “bizarre sense of duty” towards his children.